Friday

Warning: These ads are horrible. They will make you feel stupid, dirty and sad to be a part of an industry that took part in creating them. They represent what's wrong with advertising. Dumb agencies who place "shock-value" at the center of their creative instead of sound strategy that differentiates their product from their competitors. Clients who can be sold on anything and don't think about the consequences for their products.

If you created these ads, please quit the industry and find something new. I'd recommend something that involves you never leaving the house, talking to anyone or - God forbid - selling something. If you approved these ads, don't worry, you'll be fired soon. I just recommend never admitting to having a hand in them if you ever want to find another job as a marketer.

To the agency, Microsoft, media company and production groups, thanks for making all other work feel great in comparison to this awful campaign. When I think of IE8, I think of these spots. And I feel so, so, so much better for my Mac Book Pro and Firefox browser.

The spots are so bad I don't even want to put them on AdJoke. You can view the 60 here.

UPDATE: Valleywag just reported that Microsoft has pulled the ad. I guess that's what happens when you get a guy from Police Academy to direct your spots for you. Hey Microsoft, I hear the geek from 16 Candles is available to shoot your next awful campaign.

Tuesday

A few days ago, the Marketing Magazine released an article (through research done by PayPal) that showed that 51% of Canadians were anxious when making a purchase online. The finding further found that 40% of Canadians don't believe that retailers are able to keep their credit card information safe.

Through research I've done recently on online shoppers, I've have found additional studies that show - in comparison to the US - Canadians are more likely to research their purchases online but less likely to actually buy.

A few sources have speculated why this might be occurring. For starters, online shopping become cheaper and easier to do in the US than in Canada. Furthermore, shipping costs in the US are now either nothing or baked into initial cost (typically). In Canada, they can be upwards of 10-15% on top of the purchase price - depending on the brand and where you live.

That being said, things aren't all that bad. According to eMarketer, Canadian's spent over $6.5 billion online last year and that number will certainly continue to grow.

But the question remains - when will Canadians as a whole feel comfortable with leaving the retail experience and buying most of their items via the web?

Sunday

Really nice spot from Braun. Excellent execution which pays off the history of the brand as well as the main product benefit (smoothness). I love the idea of using subtle metrosexuality in a time that was anything but.

In the past few months, I've been working on a Google Android campaign and was lucky enough to spend a very months testing out the product and the Android market. I'm a big fan of mobile applications (especially for the iPhone) and think that in the next few years we're going to see some revolutionary ones coming out.

Here is one of them:

We've posted about augmented reality before but to be honest, there aren't very many practical applications for it out yet. I love this one and if anyone knows if it's available for the iPhone, let me know the name.